ACTS REFLECTION- Week 4

This weeks readings are centred around one central storyline; the arrest, trial and testimony of Paul.

I know that maybe I’m not meant to say this, but I found it a little boring!

On reflection, I think this is because, reading through Acts in this way, it wasn’t long ago that we read the original story of the conversion of Paul and this retelling is detailed in almost exactly the same way. It is then, for us readers, a little repetitive.

There are a few things that stand out still, so I’ll look at three things – one smaller detail that is in the text, one medium thing that is exemplified here and one big thing that this points towards.

The smaller thing:

It’s interesting to see the stark change in behaviour against Paul upon finding out that he is a Roman citizen (Acts 22:24-29). When we did a series on Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, we considered his mixed identity as a Jew and a Pharisee but also a free Roman citizen and how that citizenship affords him certain rights, privileges and protections. In this story, we see both the impact of these protections and also the potential abuses faced by those without them. To be a Roman citizen was an incredibly powerful part of status.

The medium thing:

If you’ve been part of church for any amount of time, I’m confident that you’ll have some awareness of the potential power of testimony. When people tell their own stories of faith, there are a number of things going on. One is a spoken declaration of what God is doing, which reveals something of God to people who don’t believe. Whilst conversations about God can be fraught with disagreement and dispute, sharing our stories makes it personal and more relatable. Our stories connect with people in a way that objective arguments never can.

Paul’s relaying of his testimony is a wonderful example of creating opportunity out of even the most difficult situations. Paul sees a moment to share what God has done in his life, and takes it.

I once heard a modern parable whose message was challenging:

If being a Christian was illegal, would people be able to find enough evidence to have you found guilty?

For Paul, that appears not to be an issue! The initial charges he faces are from his own people who argue that he is teaching people against Judaism and the Law and has defiled the temple.

The Roman soldiers don’t have a clue what’s going on but intervene, seemingly, to keep the peace. They think at first that he is an Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand assassins into the wilderness (I can’t be the only person who wants to hear more about that story?!)

As the story progresses, we see similarities with the arrest and trial of Jesus. There is a great uproar from the Jewish people who want Paul dead, but the Romans can’t find any reason to kill him.

Paul manages to do something that lots of great literary characters do throughout the ages – he delivers an eloquent speech in the heat of the moment. I suppose it doesn’t matter whether this actually happened or if it is a writer who wants Paul to look like the kind of person who would do this.

The message that is communicated is that our personal testimony of finding faith can be our greatest strength and something to rely on, even in times of trouble or difficulty.

The big picture thing: 

“Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” – Acts 21:13

The word Martyr comes from a Greek word meaning ‘to bear witness’ or ‘to testify’. In the first centuries of Christianity, however, this word took on further meaning – to bear witness unto death. Those who died in defence of their faith were considered martyrs.

Here in Acts, Paul says that he would be willing to be martyred.

And tradition holds that this is what happened. As a Roman citizen, Paul was given the least painful death – beheading. But our biblical texts don’t mention this anywhere – so where does this tradition come from?

The same is true of Peter. Tradition holds that he was crucified hanging upside down in Jerusalem during the reign of Emperor Nero. But our New Testament doesn’t tell us that – though there is a hint in John’s gospel that Peter will be martyred:

”Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.” – John 21:18-19

(With John’s gospel being thought to have been written in the last decade of the first century (roughly 30 years after Peter died), it’s quite possible that this was included in reference to Peter’s historic death rather than in anticipation of the death to come.)

As it happens, the idea of the martyrdom of the Apostles largely come from the same type of place.

We have a series of apocryphal texts(not included in the biblical canon), which are alternative ‘Acts’ of the apostles. Most relevant for us now, there is an ‘Acts of Paul’ and an ‘Acts of Peter’.

Theses texts, though not included in our bibles, are among the sources of these legendary stories of these key characters. They are slightly bizarre and intriguing texts, but they clearly had an impact on early Christianity. In the ‘Acts of Paul’, Paul’s beheading is described. In the Acts of Peter, we have a long story of the build up to Peter’s death, including a meeting with Jesus, who is headed into Jerusalem to be crucified again. Peter understands this to mean that he himself must follow in Jesus’ footsteps and be martyred.

But why was martyrdom revered?

Well, there remains an argument that dying for a belief validates it.

Christian apologists (those who argue in defence of Christianity) often use this line of argument with regards to the resurrection claims. Maybe you’ve heard it expressed something like this;

If the disciples were being persecuted and killed for saying Jesus was the Messiah and that he’d risen from the dead, wouldn’t they have just owned up and avoided death if they had been making it up?

As an argument, it doesn’t really hold up. There is not necessarily any connection between something being true or false and someone believing it to be true or false. Just because someone is convinced of something, it doesn’t make it true.

In fact, we know well that people across history have been willing to die for all manner of things.

Furthermore, the historical evidence for mass persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire is limited. There had been Jewish martyrs in the time of the Maccabean revolution, a few centuries before Jesus was born. At that point, a Greek ruler called Antiochus Ephiphanes was cruel towards the Jews, outlawing their customs and practices. The Romans, however, were quite tolerant and didn’t require the Jews to make sacrifices to Roman gods, or abandon their own customs.

The challenge came when Christianity emerged. There was no framework for this – they refused to follow Roman customs, like making offerings to the Emperor, but they also didn’t follow the Jewish customs. This is why the Romans began to have difficulties with early Christians. The impression given by some of the early church ‘fathers’ is that there was widespread persecution of the church, but there just doesn’t appear to be evidence to support those claims.

So why might they say such things?

I think it’s the same reason that the author of the Acts of the Apostles highlights the martyrdom of Stephen in Acts 7-8 and why Paul is highlighted saying that he would be willing to die.

One of the purposes of Acts was to unify and encourage believers and serve as a catalyst for spreading the faith.

To have people willing to die for a cause is powerful. The conviction displayed in the life of the apostles as they were arrested countless times, beaten and threatened shows us that this is a message we should take seriously. If you lived in the first or second century Near East and heard of these followers of ‘the Way’ who performed signs and wonders and had a message of transformation that they were willing to be killed for, you’d probably want to find out more! That’s a compelling combination.

The Acts of the Apostles, ultimately, serves as an advertisement for a life of faith. It highlights the most spectacular parts and glorifies the most challenging parts.

And, based on the rapid expansion of Christianity in those first centuries after Christ, it seems to have worked!